A press card means we’re special until we
irritate someone who can ignore it or take it away. It doesn’t matter
what level of government is involved; the power to issue a press card is
the power to withhold.

Language abuse — as opposed to abusive language — is as old as language itself.
After 50-plus years of reporting and
editing, I should be used to it, but I’m increasingly irritated by its
deliberate, partisan misuse.

Intruding is something
reporters do. Intrusions can be personal, professional, financial or
commercial. Or more than one of the above. And, yes, despite
inexplicably loud cell phone conversations, awareness of omnipresent
smartphone cameras and overly revealing Facebook posts, many Americans
still assert their right to privacy.

You want news of a real weapon of mass
destruction? Try ammonium nitrate fertilizer stored in tanks in the tiny
town of West, Texas. At least 14 dead. Hundreds wounded. High school
and nursing home blitzed. Dozens of homes destroyed.

LGBT-supporting Cincinnatians had a
bipolar March 15, with Sen. Rob Portman coming out in support of
same-sex marriage and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network
(GLSEN) being publicly barred from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the
same day.

The newest haute Hollywood beauty trend is a procedure
called a “vampire facial,” which involves injecting your own blood —
drawn from your arm — back into your face, to stimulate collagen
production. WORLD -2

After Benedict XVI quit and before
cardinals began voting for his successor, daily news-free news stories
left us as ignorant as the day before. Until Francis’ election, nothing really
happened. That’s one reason NPR received 200-plus complaints, its
ombudsman reported, mostly about 47 stories running during the four
weeks between popes.

Though we’re only about seven weeks into
2013, many of this year’s top stories (or, rather, the stories the media
has made into “top stories”) share a common thread — often, people are
not what they seem.